Podcast Show Notes Ep 001: “Should your brand consider starting a podcast?” with Surmayee Tetarbe and Sam Book from Sassy Media Group

Tracy Tsang - August 30, 2019

The Innovate for Growth Podcast: Season 1, Episode 001

Should our brand be podcasting? With the rapid rise of podcasts and exponential growth of podcast listeners and investment in podcast media and tech companies, this is a question that no doubt many brands have in mind when it comes to their marketing strategy.

In comparison to US, UK or even China, Hong Kong has been slow in its uptake of podcasts as a marketing medium for businesses. I was therefore excited to have Sam Book and Surmayee Tetarbe, the creators of Sassy Speaks, a podcast created by Sassy Media Group to celebrate their 10 years anniversary, to be my guest on the very first episode of The Innovate for Growth Podcast.

There are lots of valuable tips for those who are considering to start your own podcast and use it as part of your marketing/brand building strategy in this episode, as well as how to grow an audience for a new podcast.

Below are the show notes from this episode:

For large brands launching their own podcast series

Branded podcasts are being published by companies like Gimlet Creative in collaboration with well known brands including Tinder, Chase, Mastercard.

The general trend in marketing is to move away from display ads to content. There is a much greater focus on telling your brand story, selling a lifestyle that your product fits into and satisfying customer needs and wants.

Work with a company that can create the brand story for you or come up with your own, but do not make it a hard sell.

TTYL, an Instagram marketing podcast produced by Later, a social media scheduling platform is a good example of how branded podcasts can be used to keep consumers coming back because they add value in a relevant way for their product and make your target audience feel like a person rather than just another marketing statistic.

Podcasts generally have a high quality audience – conversion much higher than other marketing medium like billboards.

Planning your podcast launch and time investment required

“Have a realistic expectation of amount of time you will invest in it. For Sassy Speaks, we listen to it 4 or 5 times before each episode go out “

Set your goals for the podcast from the beginning and tick off the boxes as you go along

It took them 6 months to complete production of a 10 episodes season for Sassy Speaks

For each episode, the Sassy Speaks team spends:

An hour to prepare script

An hour recording

An hour setting up and dismantling

An hour for show notes

Creative director/designer creating artwork on a daily basis

Marketing your podcast

If you’re building personal brand, your podcast will become synonymous with your brand

Plan like hell and be ready and proactive in marketing it

What makes your podcast brand a success is a clear value proposition and knowing what that is from the start

Some Practical tips:

Make sure content align with data and what readers expect

Make sure everything is on brand, market it every week and that when people are listening to a new episode they know what to expect

Try to work with a company that’s done podcasting before if you are looking to create an original podcast for your brand

Put as few barriers as possible to your audience as possible when you’re looking to grow your audience

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